Guardian
by consultingcas
Summary: Sam, Dean, and Castiel find an unexpected individual when trying to close a doorway to Purgatory. Who is she and how does she know the Winchesters and their angel friend? Slightly Cas-centric but lots of Sam, Dean and an OC. No slash or pairings.


Chapter One- It's About Time*

One Year Earlier

Dean pulled the knife out of the demon and watched as it fell to the ground. He turned to Sam who had just cut off the head of a vampire.

"What the hell? This is like the tenth monster we've ganked in this stupid town." The two brothers left the alley they were standing in and walked to the Impala. "Seriously, Sammy, what the hell is going on?"

"How should I know, Dean?" Sam retorted. "I mean, whatever it is, it's big. I've never seen so many different types of monsters in the same place before."

"Wraiths, shapeshifters, ghouls, demons, vampires, vetala, werewolves, a djinn, and a rugaru." Dean threw this shotgun in the trunk along with his machete. "Comic Con in town or something?"

"I really don't know, Dean. Maybe Cas found something."

"Where the hell is he anyway?" Dean and Sam heard a familiar flapping of wings and the small tap of feet hitting the ground. They turned to see Castiel, his trench coat covered in blood and what seemed to be ink. In his right hand he held a machete that was also covered in the black substance. Castiel held up his left hand, which contained a decapitated head that had black ooze dripping from its neck.

"Leviathan." He stated.

"Great. Things weren't good enough we've got Leviathan running around." Dean slammed the trunk of the Impala. The three of them got in the car and headed back to the hotel. They'd been in Missoula, MT for four days now. They'd come concerning a case in which the victim's heart was missing from its body. Thus, the brothers assumed they'd be bagging themselves a werewolf, quick and easy, a simple silver bullet to the heart. Instead they ran into a group of demons, about 8, and had to fight for their lives. Luckily, Castiel showed up just in time to get them out of harms way.

Dean, Sam and Castiel walked into their hotel room. The walls were covered in newspaper articles, weather maps, clippings from John's journal, internet articles and a map of Missoula plotting out where attacks had taken place. Dean grabbed two beers from the fridge and tossed one to Sam. He sat on the end of his bed and looked to Sam and Castiel who were sitting at the table.

"So, any idea what the hell we are dealing with here?" Sam shrugged and replied,

"I've been through almost all of Bobby's old books. There's nothing that would cause so many of them to gather like this."

"So, what?" Dean stood up from the bed, "This town just late for the apocalypse."

"They didn't get here at the same time." Castiel was looking intently at a newspaper on the table.

'What do you mean?" Sam moved the books in front of him out of the way to see what Castiel was looking at.

"This woman, Lucy Turner. Her son was killed by the werewolf, but look," Castiel indicated a quotation in the article. "Her husband went missing a month ago."

"So?" Dean asked. Sam pointed to the picture.

"Look familiar." It was in fact the face of the man whose head now sat in a bag that was sitting at the bottom of a dumpster, the head of the leviathan that Castiel had just disposed of.

"So, her husband was a leviathan. And he went missing_ exactly 36 _days ago." Sam said.

"And her son died 5 days ago." Castiel added.

"And we know that the werewolf hasn't been here that long because if he was then there would have been another attack at the last full moon which was," Dean checked his watch, "29 days ago." Sam opened up his laptop and began to search the local news for missing persons report as well recent murders.

"I knew they looked familiar. Look, "Sam turned his laptop towards Dean and Castiel, "these were some of the demons we ran into the other day." Sam pointed to a picture of 4 young men. "Apparently they disappeared on a hunting trip…15 days ago." Sam looked up in disbelief. The three of them continued to look through all the newspapers and reports over the past 3 months.

"So we've got…" Dean paused to look over the papers again. "…27 missing persons and 8 suspicious deaths in this town over the past 5 months."

"So, what? Monsters have been gathering here?" Sam inquired. Castiel moved over to the window, his eyes squinting together in concentration. He shut them swiftly and swayed where he stood.

"Seems like the best explanation. I mean what kind of demon takes a meat suit and hides in the same place. And leviathans don't kill people and then disappear. They reincorporate themselves into whoever's life they take." Dean turned to look at Cas who was steadying himself with the wall. "Cas, you okay?"

"No." And with that Cas disappeared with the sound of fluttering wings. Dean took a deep breath and stared blankly at his brother for a moment.

"You'd think he'd be more specific." He tossed the papers on the bed and walked toward the map. Sam grinned at his brother's reaction, replying,

"No, that's as specific as I'd expect him to be." Sam watched as Dean's shoulders sagged. "I'm sure he'll be back."

"Yeah." Dean turned around to Sam. "Anyways…the disappearances have been increasing right?"

"Yeah." Sam fumbled with some papers on the table. "One in August, three in September, four in October, eight last month and eleven this month."

"That means more and more of them have been gathering here. But why?"

"Not sure why but I can tell you where." Dean and Sam turned to see Castiel who was standing in the middle of the room.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, wasting no time inquiring to why the angel left so quickly.

" I felt something. Something familiar."

"Familiar?" Dean pressed.

"I can't quiet place what it is but," Castiel walked over to the map and pointed to a large factory outside of town, "this is where it's happening."

"You sure?" Dean asked.

"The twenty or so monsters that are surrounding the place seem to confirm my suspicions."

"Alright, no need to get sassy." Dean said raising his hands in defense. "Let's go." The boys got into the car and headed to the factory. Dean pulled into a parking lot about 4 blocks away. Sam and Dean grabbed machetes, shotguns, pistols and ruby's knife from the trunk and Dean handed Castiel a machete.

"I'm going to drop you inside the factory. I'll go back out and try to get rid of as many of them as I can."

"I don't know, Cas…" Dean began.

"No, there is no guarantee that we get inside if we try to fight our way in. At least if things get bad I can get out quickly." Castiel's gaze was unwavering. "Anyways, there are probably a few inside as well. We can't fight on two fronts." Sam and Dean nodded in agreement.

"Here, at least take this." Sam handed Castiel a jar with a bluish-white substance on the inside. "It'll get rid of all the demons. A little present from Kevin." Castiel took the jar from Sam and nodded. "Be careful, Cas."

"Good luck." Cas placed his hand on Sam's shoulders and Sam and Dean landed in the abandon factory. The factory was dark, the moon being the only source of light. Dean and Sam turned on their flashlights and moved slowly through the factory. As the boys moved they heard a rushing wind that seemed to be moving throughout the factory. They looked up and down the rows of shelves. Sam turned into what looked like the shipment area and froze.

"Dean?" Dean moved to his brother's side and his blood turned to ice. Across the room was what appears to be a portal. It was jagged around the edges and suspended in the air. The boys could see clear to the other side of this portal. It was grey. Nothing more. The trees weren't green and the sky wasn't blue. It was just grey. Sam began to slowly walk toward the portal but Dean stopped him.

"Sam! Don't!"

"I just want to get a closer look." Sam turned around to Dean, who looked as white as a sheet. "Dean, what's wrong?" He turned back to the portal and then to Dean. "Do…do you know where that is?" Dean nodded and said quietly,

"Yeah." Sam looked to the portal and his head lifted slowly in understanding.

"Purgatory." Dean nodded and Sam scoffed, "Well, that explains all of the monsters."

"How?"

"A door opens into monster land and you don't think that everyone of them would try to come and bust their buddies out."

"Yeah, but what about the demons?" Dean questioned. "Demons don't go to Purgatory when they die."

"Maybe Crowley sent them. He's been acting pretty desperate lately."

"Maybe. But that isn't the big issue here." He said looking to Sam, "Why the hell is this thing here? Who, or what is trying to get out?" As soon as Dean finished that statement the door began to react. A rushing wind exploded out of the portal pushing Dean and Sam back.

"Guess we are about to find out!" Sam shouted over the wind.

"No way, we need to get the hell out of here! We have no clue what is going to…" Dean is interrupted be a bright light that flashed from the portal. Dean and Sam shielded their eyes as the light engulfed the entire factory. Castiel looked to the factory as he sees the light flashing inside. He walked past several bodies on his way inside the factory, new blood stains adorning his coat.

The brothers slowly lowered their arms from their eyes and looked back toward the portal. A young woman was standing there. She was holding a blade similar to the one Dean carried in Purgatory. She had long hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. Her black coat fell past her waist and blended in with her dark jeans. Where someone would see dirt, Dean saw the all-to-familiar grime of Purgatory covering the woman, from head to toe. Suddenly a figure leaped from the shadows, radiating the bloodlust of a vampire. Before it even had the chance to bare it's fangs, however, the women in a quick and fluid motion cut off its head. She was stumbling to regain her balance when she spotted Sam and Dean. She lifted her blade to eye level, her stance wobbly, and mumbled a few words. Sam turned to Dean to see if he understood. Dean shrugged his shoulders. Sam stepped forward, his hands raised in peace and replied,

"What?"

It must have taken all her strength to respond because as the last word left her month she collapsed.

"I said…where is the angel?"

_To be continued._

**Author's note: **This chapter was originally written in a different tense so if anything is wrong feel free to let me know. This took a lot longer than I thought it would. I will try to get chapters out by Friday but I won't make any promises. Thanks for reading! R&R

*Song by Barcelona


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